Contrary to the claims by the Democratic Alliance, the Department of Health is making efforts to regulate complementary medicines.
The Medicines Control Council which is charged with regulating medicines in the country, called for producers of complementary medicines to submit their products. At least 20 000 products were received. Of these, 14 000 have been assessed to establish their contents.
Progress is also being made in establishing regulatory framework for evaluation and registration of these medicines.
The draft regulations were developed and published for public comment. The draft regulations are now being reviewed taking into consideration the comments that have been received. They will soon be considered by the legal unit of the Department of Health before being submitted to the Minister of Health.
The regulations will enable the MCC to ensure that all complementary medicines marketed in or approved for marketing in South Africa would have to meet the required quality, safety and efficacy standards and would be of benefit to the public.
Complementary medicine committee has been established within the Medicine Control Council and it is currently developing guidelines for registration and regulation of complementary medicines.